


Manip: No Matter When You Are

by Kayryn



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fanart, Manip, Plot Bunnies - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-04-30 08:43:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14493162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayryn/pseuds/Kayryn
Summary: Sometimes the greatest distance between two people is time. (A manip and a longish plot bunny to go with it. )





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is another 'thing Kayryn will not write', which means it's a plot bunny, mostly a rough draft and most likely will never be actually fleshed out to a 25-40k fic it possibly ought to be. 
> 
> Do not repost, use in edits, send to the cast etc. If you wish to use my manips for anything other than personal wallpapers or icons, please contact me first.

 

Pippa Pentangle is a young woman uncertain what she wants to do with her life. She’s always loved history, but also how history can help us change the future. Ever since she was a child she’s been especially interested in what history says about witches. How women who used nature to heal, or were outspoken or just didn’t fit in, were accused of being witches and then killed. 

The week after her 18th birthday Pippa leaves for a trip she’s wanted to make for years. She wants to visit a place that’s rumored to have been a safe haven of sorts for witches at some point in history. The place is still quite remote, but eventually she gets there. She climbs up on a hill that’s mentioned in one of the books she’s read. She gets to a plateau of sorts, looks around the area, a mouth of a cave hidden behind some rocks, the path up the hill she took, the valley below, the edge of a forest not that far away. She hears crackling somewhere next to her, steps closer to look what made the noise. For a moment she’s nauseous, feels almost like she’s falling, though her feet are firmly on the ground.

She stumbles, falls down on some loose rocks, hurts her arm in the process. She’s getting up, cradling her arm and trying to figure out what’s going on when she sees a young woman about the same age as her, with long dark hair and a dress right out of the history books, stumbling in the rough terrain, up the hill. She’s clearly trying to run away from something. Further behind the woman Pippa can see men running towards them. They’re similarly dressed, some of them carrying daggers, others rope. 

When the woman sees Pippa she’s frightened at first, doesn’t want to trust her. But Pippa assures her she only wants to help and then helps her hide in the nearby cave. They stay there for quite a while, silently waiting, listening. The woman eyes Pippa’s clothes, frowning. It seems Pippa is as peculiar a sight to this woman as the woman is to her. 

Biding their time gives Pippa a chance to start to digest what’s happening. Or seems to be happening. She’s somehow landed in the Middle Ages. With no idea how that happened or how she can get back home. Frightened, she starts to hyperventilate. The woman next to her places a hand on her shoulder, her touch hesitant at first, then steady. It grounds Pippa. She focuses on her breathing, tells herself she’ll find a way out of this mess, somehow. They can still hear the men close by and don’t dare to leave their hiding place until it’s dark so that the men can’t see them.

Silently the woman gestures for Pippa to follow her and, not really knowing what else to do, Pippa does so. The woman leads the way into the woods, clearly knowing where she’s going. Once they’ve walked for a while, when they’re already deeper into the woods, walking slowly with only the full moon to guide their way, the young woman thanks Pippa, says her name is Hecate. Pippa introduces herself. Hecate points to Pippa’s injury, says she can return the favor and clean that up. She seems a little hesitant, even when offering, so Pippa assures her that she sees nothing wrong with using natural remedies, what the earth provides, to heal. Hecate seems to accept this, relaxes ever so slightly. 

As they walk, Hecate asks where Pippa is from, she’s never seen anyone dress like her before. Pippa is reluctant to talk about it but Hecate… well, she’s young but no one’s ever accused her of being stupid. Clothes like she’s never seen, the language the woman speaks is familiar but different, understandable to a degree but also with words she can’t decipher... it’s not just that Pippa isn’t from around here, it’s something else.

They arrive to a small cottage in the woods which is hidden so well that, even in daylight, would be almost impossible to see unless you accidentally stumbled upon it. As soon as they get in, Hecate lights a single candle and starts mixing herbs.

The biggest problem Pippa has, she thinks, is that she probably needs to get back to the place where she first landed in the past. That plateau on the hill is her only clue to what happened and, so far, her only hope to return to the 20th century. She needs to go back to the hills where the men are and have now appeared to have set camp. Nothing for her to do but to wait. 

And so, every day for a week one or both of them walk the hour it takes to the edge of the woods to see if the men have finally left, but each day they can still see them at the base of the hill. A few days in, Hecate asks Pippa if she’s from another time. At first Pippa goes to deny it, but Hecate points to Pippa’s wrist watch, the pen she’d carried with her and, possibly most incriminating, her walkman. Those are more than just things from another land, they seem like they’re things from another time. After some hesitation, Pippa says yes. She’s from the future. 

After the first week they no longer make the journey every day, but reduce it to twice a week. As the days go by, the two get to know each other more. Pippa tells how she’s at a point in her life where she needs to figure out what to do, what to study, what to become when she ‘grows up’. It all sounds wondrous to Hecate who can’t imagine a world where a girl can go to schools and decide for herself what she wants to do. Hecate tells Pippa that she was brought up by her grandmother and aunt, both of whom are now gone. There are those who think what she does is unnatural, ungodly, but there are also people who come to her for help. Mothers who bring their young, sick with fever and husbands who bring their wives and children, with bleeding wounds that won’t close. Hecate heals them. 

Hecate and Pippa quickly form a bond and it doesn’t take long for both of them to become aware that they’re falling in love, fast and hard. Neither says anything, though. Pippa mainly because she’s trying to take her cues from Hecate, uncertain how her feelings would be received. Hecate hides her own feelings because Pippa has told her she’s from a time when people like Hecate aren’t hunted anymore, they live in peace... and Hecate knows Pippa has to go back to her own time, to be safe, because by staying with her, they’ll only think Pippa is like her and then she’ll be in danger too. There’s no future for them.

One evening, almost a month after Pippa has arrived, the two come close to admitting how they truly feel. They’re talking about the next walk to the edge of the woods, to see if the men have gone. It leads to Pippa admitting she’s getting used to the idea of staying here, in the past. Yes, she misses the washing machine and the convenience of just buying stuff from the store (oh, what she wouldn’t give for a doughnut), but perhaps there is no going back for her and she’s starting to accept it.

Hecate is so vehemently against the idea that at first Pippa’s feelings are hurt, thinking she wants to be rid of her. Then she sees Hecate’s eyes glistening with unshed tears, knows there’s more to it. Hecate finally admits that she just wants Pippa to be safe, it’s the only thing that truly matters. That, no matter how much she’s come to enjoy Pippa’s company and has grown to… well, it doesn’t matter does it? It’s not safe. 

Pippa argues that they can figure out a solution. Either Pippa will stay and they’ll just be careful... or they’ll find a way for Hecate to come with Pippa through the window to the future.

Hecate just looks at her, trying to smile encouragingly while her heart is breaking. Both scenarios are impossible. There’s no way Hecate can allow Pippa to stay in danger, and Hecate also can’t leave because people need her here.

About a week or so later, the two are once again at the edge of the forest, looking up on the hills where the men have set camp. Only there’s no one there. Pippa takes this with mixed emotions, at least now she’ll get to try and find out if there’s a way back home for her, those hills are her only clue as to what could get her back home. But of course it’s not a given at all. And then, there’s Hecate. Pippa doesn’t want to leave her.

Hecate hides her emotions better but she’s conflicted, too. She wants Pippa safe, knows she can have a bright future back in her own time, but the thought of never seeing her again is incredibly painful. 

Together they climb up the hill, get to the spot where Pippa remembers having landed. They’re careful about where they move, looking for something, anything really, that would indicate a way back for Pippa. 

Just as Hecate sees what she thinks could be a distortion in the air right in front of her, they hear men running up the hill towards them. Everything happens so fast that even years later Pippa stays up nights and wonders if she could’ve done something differently. 

Seeing the men closing in on them, Pippa starts to tell Hecate that they need to run. At the same time, Hecate is telling her that the window is right there. Pippa grabs Hecate’s arm, asking her to come with her and then…

And then Pippa is back in her own time with no idea what happened to Hecate. She tries to look for another distortion, another window that would either let her go back to Hecate or something! But there’s nothing there.

***

Heartbroken, Pippa makes it back to London. She pours over history books of the era she visited, tons of them. Also books about women accused of being witches... all of it. Everything she can get her hands on. The only thing she finds is that the nearest village was wiped out decades later by a some kind of contagious disease. She has no way of knowing if Hecate would’ve still been alive then. 

While she’s researching the past, reading all these books, related and not, she ends up becoming a historian. It’s not something she ever envisioned as a child, or even later, but history has become her passion.

Thirty years after her travel through time Pippa finds a book about the history of the area where she met Hecate. She takes the book with her and travels to the location. It’s been years since she’s been back. She used to come here often, at first. Hoping for another window through time, another chance to see, find, reunite with Hecate. There’s been nothing.

She sits on a rock that she sat on when she first came back. When she cried and sobbed, exhausted and afraid, trying to understand what had happened and how could she go back.

She starts to read the book. Relaxes. It’s a beautiful day, warm for autumn.

And then there’s a crackling sound in the air. She’s only ever heard it twice before but she’s not likely to ever forget it.

Pippa abandons the book and stands up, hand reaching for the fracture in the air without even thinking. And finds herself in the past again.

This time there are no men chasing after her, there’s no Hecate. The area looks much the same, almost unchanged, in fact. She looks at the distortion in the air and then turns her back to it, walking towards the woods.

As Pippa comes closer to where she remembers the cottage to have been, her heart rate quickens. She’s suddenly afraid of what she’ll find. But the hope of seeing Hecate, well, that keeps her going. 

***

Hecate is on her way to the cottage when she sees someone walking further in the woods, also towards the cottage. She hardly ever comes to here these days, only at certain times when she needs to gather ingredients, herbs. For thirty years Hecate has managed to evade and escape hunters. She lives in the nearest village now, following Pippa’s advice to hide in plain sight. In fact, now’s not the usual time for her to be back, but there’s a sickness spreading in the village and she needs more ingredients to make medicine. 

Closing in on the person ahead of her, she sees their face as they look around.

“Pippa?”

The woman turns and time, for once, stands still. 

The reunion is awkward, painfully so. There’s joy that they’re still both alive (Pippa is especially relieved to see Hecate still here and well), but there’s hurt as well.

Hecate is well aware she did a rotten thing by not giving Pippa a chance to say goodbye, and by... well, not giving her an option at all, just pushing her through the window back to her own time. She thinks Pippa must hate her for it, has always thought so, and now that she sees the hurt in Pippa’s eyes she’s convinced of it. 

But Pippa says that, yes, she was hurt, but she never hated Hecate, how could she? She tells Hecate how she’s spent decades trying to find what happened to Hecate, trying to find out if she was okay, if she was able to live her life in peace. Hecate is genuinely surprised and touched that Pippa still cared enough.

Hecate tells Pippa she lives in the village now, hiding in plain sight. She’s not been bothered again, not for being accused of being a witch anyway. She explains that she’s only back because there’s a disease that’s spreading in the village, that she needs to gather ingredients so she can help. 

Pippa’s heart drops. The disease that wiped out the village nearby. She tells Hecate that there’s nothing to be done. 

Hecate wants to go back to the village, the healer in her insisting she at least try and help, but Pippa tells her, is almost desperate to convince her, that there’s no medicine in this time that can help, there’s no way to stop death from taking every life in the village. Not in this age. 

They end up having a huge argument about it because when Hecate doesn’t give in at first, Pippa threatens to stay with Hecate in the past. Hecate says if the disease is as contagious and as dangerous as Pippa has said, then it’s too dangerous for Pippa to stay. Pippa argues that it’s just as dangerous for Hecate and that if Hecate is allowed to be concerned with Pippa’s well-being when Pippa is allowed to be concerned with Hecate’s. This thing goes both ways.

Hecate hesitates but finally relents when Pippa says she can’t lose her again. She fell in love thirty years ago and thought she’d never see Hecate again. She’s spent years trying to find her. Hell, trying to find Hecate turned into a career for her. She won’t lose her again.

And so Pippa convinces Hecate to come back with her. It’ll be a hard adjustment but they can live in the countryside at first, or even for good. The change won’t be that big, that drastic.

The next day Hecate makes one last trip to the village, with Pippa. They’re careful not to come into contact with anyone and they only stay long enough for Hecate to gather some papers with her notes. She leaves fever reducing medicine by the door. Then, the two women start their journey back to the hills.

***

True to her word, when they get to 2017, Pippa finds them a cottage in the in the middle of nowhere and the two move in. A lot of the modern inventions bother Hecate, especially the ones that make a lot of noise or move fast. She doesn’t seem that phased by electricity, lights turning on at the flip of a switch or the fridge keeping food cold, but she hates cars, is suspicious of trains and she it takes a while for her to stop squinting her eyes menacingly every time she sees a plane. 

One evening, about a month after they’ve moved into their new cottage, Pippa is showing Hecate books she’s read and written about Middle Ages, about women in those times, women accused of being witches, women’s roles in society. 

They’re huddled together on the sofa in the sitting room, with a book held between them as Pippa explains what she learned over the years about the place the time fractures appeared in. The location used to be seen as a magical place, and the idea intrigues Pippa as there’s of course the connection to women accused of witchcraft in the Middle Ages around the area.

Pippa asks Hecate if she ever heard people talking about the hills. Did anyone ever mention the place as being bewitched, or strange or anything... Hecate says no, not really.

They end up putting the book aside for the evening and just talk, fingers drawing invisible patterns on an arm or a thigh. They’ve been thinking about what to do in the near future. Pippa has a few lectures she needs to give in different cities, Cambridge and Oxford included, and she asks if Hecate would like to accompany her. Hecate hasn’t left their little patch of land more than a few times since they arrived, and those times its been to the village. 

Hecate says she’ll think about it and it’s enough for Pippa. She doesn’t want to push Hecate. There will come a time when Hecate will want to occupy her days with work, but for now there’s still a lot for her to learn and catch up on.

Pippa shivers. She looks outside and notices the sun has set and it’s getting dark. The cottage always gets a bit colder then.

“Cold?” Hecate asks her, though she knows the answer.

Pippa nods and pulls the comforter from the chair next to her, arranges it around them.

Pippa looks at the fireplace which is empty, wonders if it’s worth it to get up and arrange the wood, lit the fire. It would be nice and warm but she’s reluctant to leave her place next to Hecate. Having her back in her life is still so new and precious. And Hecate is... well, Hecate. Moments like this don’t happen often, even now.

She’s still contemplating on the pros and cons of getting up to lit the fire when Hecate raises her hand above the comforter and waves her fingers through the air.

It takes several moments for Pippa’s brain to catch up and realize there’s now a fire blazing in the fireplace, as warm and cozy as can be.

Pippa looks at Hecate, her eyes wide. Hecate looks both worried and uncertain, scared almost. But also hopeful and a little relieved.

Pippa keeps studying her face, trying to understand, trying to catch up. Trying to make sense of what she’s just seen and trying to decide what to do about it, if anything.

She feels Hecate starting to tense as the silence lingers. That finally snaps Pippa out of her thoughts.

She looks at Hecate, takes her face between her hands and smiles before kissing her softly, trying to convey how much she appreciates Hecate trusting her with a secret this big.

She feels Hecate relaxing, and they both lose themselves in each other for a while.

 

 

The end.

  
  
  



	2. further prompt #1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I originally posted the AU idea on tumblr, thinkmanythingsofit/kelbris replied to it, saying: Please, the cottage is so small that there is ONLY ONE BED, RIGHT?!? And they’ve been sharing it while pining for one another for over a month?! And that one night in the cottage before going back to the future together?! WHAT HAPPENED?! Also, the manip is so georgous! Love how the different style of the women reflect the time they’re from! 
> 
> So here's what I wrote.

I can confirm that there was only one bed. And it was quite narrow too. Which, at first, wasn’t a problem at all. Yes, it was a bit of an adjustment, especially when one wanted to shift and elbowed the other, but they’re both small women and could fit on well enough, learned fast how to not kick or push the other off the bed. But as time went on and their feelings grew, things got more complicated. Especially that one night when Hecate woke up well before dawn, with Pippa pressed against her back, holding her. 

That evening Hecate claimed she needed to go gather herbs and roots she was low on stock. Pippa wanted to go with her, but Hecate had told her she needed to do this alone, to enjoy the rare opportunity to sleep peacefully. That night the narrow bed, much smaller than Pippa had back home, seemed much too big. She didn’t sleep much at all, tossing and turning all night.

Hecate, too, had a rough night. She left as soon as it got dark and she went to the river not too far away. She picked a few roots, a few herbs, some leaves and flower buds. She didn’t necessarily need them, but she’d said she was going to gather ingredients and it would look odd if she came back with nothing. Then, she sat under a large oak tree, hugged her arms around herself to keep the chill away and waited for dawn.

***

That one night in the cottage before they go to the future… well, not a lot happens. Once they’ve talked and argued and the decision has been made and their feelings have been revealed… they’re both quite exhausted. They talked about just leaving right away, but Hecate had insisted she at least go to the village one last time, to pick up a few things and to leave medicine. It might not cure anyone, but would sooth someone’s fever, at least for a while. 

Hecate worries about the villagers, especially the children, mourns them already. Pippa sits on the bed, her back against the wall and gathers Hecate close, holding her, soothing her. It’s close to morning when they both nod off for a while, only to wake up a couple of hours later, ready for their final task in this time.


	3. further prompt #2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another small addition when thinkmanythingsofit/kelbris replied to the addition in the previous chapter by asking: When did they first kiss? Because that kiss in front of the fireplace did not feel like the very first one, right? 
> 
> And here's what I answered:

The first kiss happened after they left the village for the last time. Pippa keeps a close eye on Hecate, she’s worried about her. Last night was hard on them and though the decision has been made, Pippa knows this isn’t easy for Hecate. Hecate is, of course, burying everything inside and almost pretending like nothing’s wrong.

They rest for a while, sitting on a large rock near the edge of the woods. It’s the same place they came to, all those years ago, to see if the men had moved on so Pippa could return home. They don’t really need to rest, it’s only a ten minute walk to the base of the hill and then a hike to the plateau, but it feels appropriate, somehow, to rest here for a moment. 

They haven’t talked since they left the village. It’s almost like there’s nothing to say, not now. At least, nothing that can’t wait. The silence is hallow, in a way. They mourn for the dead who are still alive, unaware of the future suffering. 

Hecate looks back, towards the village, now long gone from sight. 

“I hope you know how much I wish there was more we could do,” Pippa says, reaching to hold Hecate’s hand. She still worries that Hecate will change her mind at last minute. If that were to happen Pippa isn’t sure what she’d do.

Hecate meets Pippa’s eyes and Pippa realizes Hecate hasn’t looked at her since that morning. The worry must be written on her face because Hecate attempts to smile, to assure Pippa. She tells Pippa that she knows, trusts her. 

For several moments they just look at each other, their hands now joined, both trying to communicate their thoughts and feelings without actually putting them into words. But then, as it often is, Pippa breaks the silence again. 

“Thank you, for agreeing to come with me. I know it’s not easy.”

Hecate looks down at their hands, studies how they fit together, twists her fingers with Pippa’s. After a long moment she looks up again. “It’s easier than I’d like to admit. I’m afraid I’d always choose you. Every time.”

Not having expected a reply like that, Pippa hesitates for a moment but then leans closer, softly pressing her lips against Hecate’s in a gentle kiss. It takes a few heartbeats but then Hecate responds, kisses her back, untangles their hands and grips Pippa’s shoulder, pulling her closer still.


End file.
